NieR: Automata
Games Like Horizon Zero Dawn If You’re Looking for Something Similar
With its open world and dystopian mechanical future, this game is fairly NieR to what’s on offer in Horizon Zero Dawn. …That one felt bad just to type, honestly.
Whereas HZD is grounded in a level of reality that is almost unmatched in something so ambitious, NieR: Automata fully embraces the eccentricities that are synonymous with series creator Yoko Taro. The battles are more melee-focused, fast-paced and frantic, with 2B flitting about the screen like a flea on cocaine. Certainly, both styles of gameplay have their merits, but the major factor where NieR comes out ahead would be in the storyline department. It’s dark and it’s intriguing, and compels you to dig deeper.
Taro himself admitted eerie similarities when asked to rank his top 10 games for 2017 (a list where Horizon Zero Dawn managed second place behind, strangely enough, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp), saying, ‘Their release date was extremely close to NieR: Automata, it was a sci-fi genre title, an action game, and it featured a female protagonist. So much overlap. I thought, “Are you trying to kill me? Give me a break, seriously.”’
If Yoko Taro thinks so, then that’s definitely saying something. Still though – Pocket Camp? For real?
